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Excoriators
The Excoriators are a Codex Astartes-compliant Loyalist Chapter of Space Marines who are a Second Founding Successor Chapter of the Imperial Fists. An ancient tome of knowledge known as the Mythos Angelica Mortis lists them as one of the twenty Chapters of Astartes founded to make up the Astartes Praeses, an ever-vigilant Space Marine task force assigned to guard the regions of the Imperium surrounding the Eye of Terror. The Excoriators' Chapter homeworld is Eschara in the Segmentum Obscurus. Chapter History The Excoriators are a Successor Chapter created during the dark days of the Second Founding from the genestock of the Imperial Fists. This was done in recognition of a group of Imperial Fists stalwart defence of the Imperial Palace during the Battle of Terra, which earned them the right to be recognised as a separate Chapter when the reforms made to the Imperium after the Horus Heresy required that all the Space Marine Legions be broken up into seprate Chapters for the sake of Imperial security. The ancient tome of knowledge known as the Mythos Angelica Mortis lists the Excoriators as one of the 20 Chapters of Astartes founded to make up the Astartes Praeses, an ever-vigilant Space Marine task force assigned to guard the regions of the Imperium surrounding the Eye of Terror. Their duty of garrisoning the sectors bordering the Eye of Terror was never easy. Servants of the Dark Gods were ever ready to test the mettle of Excoriators bastions, gauntlets and cordons, and with recent misfortunes the numbers of battle-brothers holding such precarious boundaries were dwindling. Notable Campaigns *'The Defence of Certus-Minor (Unknown Date.M41)' - The entirety of the Excoriators' 5th Company was lost in garrisoning the Imperial Cemetery World of Certus-Minor against the predations of the Cholercaust Blood Crusade. Certius-Minor lay directly in the path of the Keeler Comet, an ancient blood-red comet whose strange path embodied the will of the Chaos God Khorne, leading the Cholercaust across the stars in a celebration of slaughter for the Blood God. That was until the comet appeared in the skies of the tiny Ecclesiarchy Cemetary World in the Praga Sub-sector. The 5th Company did request reinforcement from the rest of the Chapter but had little expectation of its arrival in time to make a difference. The 5th Company sent long-range astrotelepathic requests to the regiments of the Imperial Guard's Viper Legion at Hellionii Reticuli, the 2nd Company of the Novamarines Space Marine Chapter stationed at Belis Quora and the Angels Eradicant Chapter at Port Kreel. They even sent a message to the Vanaheim Cordon where Imperial forces had gathered to face the oncoming Cholercaust, in full knowledge of its futility, for the Imperial Fists, Exorcists and Grey Knights Astartes stationed there would not leave the line of defence for fear that the Keeler Comet and the trailing Cholercaust Crusade might resume its progress on towards Terra. The Adeptus Astartes contingents stationed at Vanaheim would never leave the sacred soil of Terra open to attack to help defend a tiny Cemetery World. The Excoriators' Battle Barge Certius attempted to reach the Cemetary World to answer their Battle-Brothers' call and halt the progress of the Cholercaust, but they were delayed by strange Warp currents in the wake of the crimson Keeler Comet. The doomed 5th Company faced their inevitable deaths at the hands of the Forces of Chaos, and in desperation sent a last, prayerful plea to the Emperor of Mankind for assistance of any kind. For a miracle. Beyond all hope, their prayers were answered. The Blood God's butchers soon became the butchered as they were completely wiped out by the timely intervention of the mysterious Astartes who called themselves the Legion of the Damned, though all the Space Marines of the 5th Company valiantly lost their lives in the effort. *'13th Black Crusade (999.M41)' - The Excoriators fielded 8 companies against the Forces of Chaos during the 13th Black Crusade. Chapter Organisation The Excoriators are regarded as a Codex Astartes-compliant Chapter, as their organisation, order of battle and tactical operations adhering closely to the tenets laid down in that most sacred of tomes to the Adeptus Astartes. There are, however, several noteworthy and substantial deviations from the Codex's prescribed doctrine. Most notable among these deviations are the use of certain honourific ranks and titles within the Chapter in place of the standard Space Marine ranks, which include the following: *'Vanguard or Honoured First (the Veteran 1st Company)' *'Chapter Scourge (Chapter Master’s Champion)' *'Santiarch (High Chaplain)' *'Lord Apothecary (Senior Apothecary)' *'Corpus-Captain (Captain)' *'Chief Whip (Senior Veteran Sergeant)' *'Veteran Squad Whip (Veteran Sergeant)' *'Squad Whip (Sergeant)' *'Second Whip (Sergeant, Assistant Squad Leader)' *'Helmscarl (Thunderhawk Pilot)' *'Co-Helmscarl (Thunderhawk Co-Pilot)' Chapter Combat Doctrine The Excoriators are a fairly pragmatic Chapter of Astartes, for they seek to cause maximum attrition amongst the foe while minimising their own casualties by any means necessary. Fluidity, timing and technique are all subservient to the Excoriators' simple, primordial desire to be the last men standing in any fight. To them, survival is everything. Magnificence with a Bolter or blade is worth little to the dead. Not for them the Imperial Fists’ bombastic last stands or the Black Templars’ relentless advance and indiscriminate purges. Given that their Chapter has managed to survive and thrive in such close proximity to the Eye of Terror, this approach to warfare has seemed to work for them for the last ten millennia. Chapter Beliefs Like other Successor Chapters of the Imperial Fists, the Excoriators have a morbid fascination with pain and ritual scarring. They too, possess their own unique Chapter traditions. Most notable of these are the "Rites of Castigation" and "Donning Dorn’s Mantle," the latter of which involves ritual mortification of the flesh, particularly about the neck and shoulders. When there is a breach of protocol or a laxity in their duties, an individual Battle-Brother or his entire squad may be punished by being forced for several days to forgo this ritual observance, as they are considered unfit to don the mantle of Dorn due to their dishonour. The Excoriators believe that union with the Primarch through pain is a privilege and should be denied to those whose actions have proved unworthy of his ideals. To ensure the punished adhere to their commanding officer's orders, a Company Chaplain oversees the implementation of this punishment and makes sure that none of the reprimanded Battle-Brothers seeks to find solace in pain. Another sacred Chapter ritual is known as the Trial by the Blade. If an individual Battle-Brother has a personal grievance with a fellow Astartes or superior, they have the right to settle such disputes through the solemn contestation of a duel. Once this right is invoked by the accuser it must be answered in kind by the accused. Such duels are usually fought with ceremonial weapons retained in the individual company's Chapel-Reclusiam. But in certain circumstances, the duel can be carried out with whatever weapons are at hand. As all Excoriators are equal in Dorn’s sight, first blood goes to the victor. But no matter how grievous the wounds taken by either opponent, the duel will not end until first blood is drawn from the face. Once a clear winner is decided by the Excoriators Chaplain overseeing the contest, both Battle-Brothers will indicate their understanding and the matter is considered settled and the Trial by the Blade is at an end. The time and place of the victory was then recorded in the Chapter's sacred records. For the loser of the Trial, the Chapter would honour his scars as he now honoured his opponent with vindication. Once the Trial was declared over by the Chaplain, the loser had to ritually renounce their claim or the cause of the grievance that had initiated the Trial to formally end the duel. The Excoriators take great pride in the facial scars they earn through self-mutilation, a practice eerily similar to the World Eaters Traitor Legion's practice of the "Triumph Rope," or Lucius the Eternal's early ritual scarification of his face. However, the Excoriators take this practice to a whole new level, in that they do not concern themselves with just the wounds of the flesh. Scratched in High Gothic lettering, adorning each nick, sword slash and bullet hole on their Power Armour are inscriptions. Their battle-plate is often covered in such markings, with each gouge and las-burn bearing its own notation, dates and location where these battle honours were earned in glorious combat. The ebon-coloured script stands out boldy on the Chapter’s cream-coloured Power Armour. In a similar fashion, when a battle-brother dies in glorious combat his body is laid out as Chapter custom dictates, with all the horror of their battle wounds on display. As a Neophyte, an Excoriator's flesh has yet to be worthy of the lash, and no dents, rents or craters yet mark their Power Armour, which their Battle-Brothers revile as the ignoble sheen of combat virginity. Neophytes also trained with the honourable gladius but were not deemed worthy of a full Adeptus Astartes blade until they attained the full rank of Space Marine. The machete-length and cleaver-like cutting blade, referred by Squad Whips as a "Scout’s-only-friend" was still a graceful taker of lives. The Exoriators are pious, zealous and uncompromising Astartes who have a deep and abiding faith in the Emperor of Mankind and their Primarch Rogal Dorn. This Chapter is known to perform small forms of religious observance in their daily tasks. When saluting a fellow Battle-Brother or before going into battle, an Excoriator often recites the ritual prayer, Dextera Dornami, which loosely translates from the High Gothic as the "right hand of Dorn." Then they form a fist with their right gauntlet before touching their forehead with one knuckle, then their lips and then their breastplate -- one Astartes heart, then the other. When a subordinate Battle-Brother is in the presence of a superior officer, they often times perform an impromptu salute by kissing their right gauntlet out of respect for their esteemed rank. Even their Chapter serfs and bondsmen perform this ritual salute. It is worthy of note that though the Excoriators venerate the Emperor as more than a man they do not believe that he is divine. An Excoriator Astartes can feel the love of their genetic father, as he felt the love of his. His loss during the tragic events surrounding the Horus Heresy lives on within the souls of those Excoriators afflicted by the Darkness. The Excoriators feel that the fear felt by mankind's ignorant masses have cast the Emperor as a god. The Excoriators despise the Ecclesiarchy and those weak and foolish 'mortals', whom in their billions need the Emperor to be more than he is. But they are wrong, for to the Excoriators he is mortal. An exceptional mortal, nevertheless, but still mortal. The Emperor's deeds are his own and the Excoriators Chapter ever aspire to greatness - not appropriate it, mythologise it and worship it as a shield against a galaxy of petty doubt, dread and pain. For his love the Excoriators would do anything. Feast of Blades As an Imperial Fists Successor Chapter, the Excoriators are known to take part in the Feast of Blades. This tradition was established and first presided over by Rogal Dorn himself, immediately after the Battle of the Iron Cage with their mortal enemies, the Iron Warriors Traitor Legion, on the world of Sebastus IV. Dorn wanted to foster brotherhood between the various Imperial Fists Successor Chapters that resulted from dividing his Legion during the Second Founding. To maintain Chapter relations, the bonds of brotherhood were to be strengthened and tempered through routine competition. Tradition has it that the Feast is a centennial tournament where each of the participating Chapters presents ten of their finest champions. A series of individual fights are scheduled and fought, until only one clear winner remains. The Chapter that claims victory in the Feast is allowed to schedule another one before a hundred Terran years has passed, in order to further capitalise on their previous success. The Feast of Blades serves its purpose. Many pacts are created and obligations honoured amongst the Sons of Dorn – but all Astartes are bred for victory. Reigning Chapters want to build on past triumphs so that their success will echo through eternity and catch Dorn’s approving eye or ear, wherever the Primarch might be. They call the Feast to best complement their advantage – the prowess of their champions and the perceived weaknesses of their opponent Chapters. Like any Space Marine Chapter, they want to win. The recent trials the Excoriators experienced may have been a factor in the Feast’s most recent calling. On occasion a Chapter could request another take its place due to unforeseen circumstances, but a fellow Chapter’s respect is hard won. The Feast of Blades is not, however, an empty exercise. Chapter relations often bear real fruit for Imperial security. During the 816th Feast, the Fire Lords Chapter sent some of their forces to relieve the Excoriators’ beleaguered 2nd Company at Celator-Primus. Chapter Artefacts *''Dornsblade ''- The Dornsblade is an ancient and highly revered artefact of all of the Sons of Dorn. At the end of the Horus Heresy, Rogal Dorn purposely broke the blade he had used aboard Horus' flagship the Vengeful Spirit after it had failed to protect his beloved father, the Emperor. His second sword, the weapon which is referred to as the Sword of Sebastus or the Dornsblade, emerged with the Primarch from the Iron Cage. It is one of the Sons of Dorns' most revered artefacts, a weapon carried and used by the Primarch himself. The Chapter that wins the Feast of Blades has the honour of retaining the blade and the solemn duty of presenting it at the next Feast – the contest they will host one hundred years later. The Excoriators recently won the Dornsblade for the first time at the 816th Feast of Blades when their unexpected Champion, Zacariah Kersh, defeated the more favoured Champions of the Black Templars and the Imperial Fists. The Excoriators will now be allowed to retain the Dornsblade until they choose to call the 817th Feast of Blades. *'The Stigmartyr'' - The Stigmartyr was the Exocoriators' sacred Chapter standard. Rogal Dorn himself entrusted his sons – the current Excoriators' ancient Battle-Brothers – with the standard over ten thousand years ago during the Second Founding. It displayed the Second Founding’s decree and was threaded with the honours of every battle fought in the Chapter's long, bloody history. It carried the distinction of the Astartes Praeses and the Excoriators' service in garrisoning the Eye of Terror. It bore the Stigmartyr ''– the emblem that the Chapter adopted as its own - a scarlet gauntleted fist clenching the length of a thunderbolt-shaped scar. The standard was lost upon the world of Ignis Prime, when the Excoriators' Chapter Master Ichabod came to inspect the Excoriators' garrison there. The Alpha Legion waited in ambush and attacked the outnumbered Exocoriators. In the ensuing melee, nearly the entirety of the Honoured 1st (the Chapter's Veteran 1st Company) was destroyed, with the sole exception of Brother Tiberias, as well as the entirety of Ichabod's inner circle, with the exceptions of Santiarch Balshazar and the Chapter Scourge Zachariah Kersh. Ichabod was severely injured, leaving him envenomed by an unknown poison. Chapter Gene-Seed and Flaw The Excoriators believe themselves to be pure of heart but not of blood. As former parts of the Imperial Fists Legion and now as a Chapter, they are not alone in their experience of genetic deficiency. The Space Wolves and the Blood Angels, as well as the brethren of other Foundings, carry the flaws of their blood heritage on to new generations. The Excoriators are afflicted by a genetic curse known as Dorn's Darkness. When Dorn's Darkness takes one of their number it might appear to the untrained eye as merely a wretched palsy: a slackness of the jaw, a tremor of the limb, blankness of the eye. But those who survive it report the experience as a living nightmare, a sleeping wakefulness in which they relive the bottomless woe of Dorn’s most trying time – the grievous loss of the Emperor during the Battle of Terra, at least as the ancient Astartes once knew him. This is both their Primarch's genetic blessing and a curse to his sons. It is to know the possibility – for even a second – of an Imperium without the Emperor. To feel what Dorn felt. The profound misery of a Primarch. The paralysing fear that even one as great as Dorn experienced, for himself and for humanity, over the Emperor’s broken body after the end of his battle with Horus. Whilst enthralled by the Darkness, its victims cannot speak or communicate. They cannot feed themselves or take water and seem feverishly insensible to everything happening about them. Notable Excoriators *'Demetrius Katafalque (First Chapter Master) – A former Captain of the Imperial Fists Legion, Demetrius had once fought at Rogal Dorn’s side during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy that followed. During the Battle of Terra, it was Katafalque who bled with his men before the walls of the Imperial Palace, under the horrific onslaught of the Warmaster’s siege, putting his body between the enemy and his Emperor. He made them pay in blood for every treasonous step. Rogal Dorn designated Demetrius to become the first Excoriator; the first Chapter Master of a Successor Chapter of the Imperial Fists. He also took part in the post-Heresy Crusades of penitence against the Traitor Legions during the Great Scouring. Katafalque scribed the sacred tome, The Architecture of Agony, a treatise dedicated to devotional suffering. Demetrius favoured their Primarch’s practice for his brother Excoriators. On their Primarch’s foster world of Inwit, the winters were cold and the lash was hot. Such instruction was adopted across Dorn’s early empire and was favoured by the Primarch personally as a form of martial communion and as purification for the soul. *'Quesiah Ichabod (Former Chapter Master)' – The direct predecessor of the Excoriators' current Chapter Master Zachariah Kersh, Chapter Master Ichabod was known as the greatest Excoriator to have ever lived. When Chapter Master Ichabod had come to the world of Ignis Prime to inspect the Excoriators’ mountaintop garrison of Kruger Ridge, he found a slaughterhouse rather than a Chapterhouse, and a waiting ambush in the form of heretic Alpha Legionaries. It was there, barricaded in the oratorium, that Chapter Scourge Zachariah Kersh had fallen to the Darkness, failing both his Master and his Chapter, and allowing the Alpha Legion’s victory to become complete. Ichabod was severely injured during the failed assassination attempt. Though strong, the Chapter Master’s wounds were grievous, leaving him writhing in envenomed agony. The Alpha Legion’s assassination had ultimately failed, but they had employed a virulent toxin for which the Excoriators' Chapter Apothecarion had no record, nor antidote. *'Zachariah Kersh (Chapter Master)' – As Chapter Scourge, Zachariah Kersh (known as "the Scourge") had spent a lifetime at his Chapter Master Quesiah Ichabod’s side, fighting experienced warriors of all creeds and species, defeating the best sent at him. It had been his singular honour to slay them before they could slay his master. Until the day Kersh failed to stop the Alpha Legion’s nearly-successful assassination attempt and crippling of Ichabod, and their theft of the Stigmartyr, the ancient and revered Chapter standard of the Excoriators dating back to the days of the Second Founding. This was a devastating blow to the Excoriators' morale, and the cause of many problems for the Chapter. These tragic events marked Kersh as persona non grata ''in the eyes of his Battle-Brothers. To make matters worse, Kersh continually finds himself afflicted by Dorn’s Darkness – a condition in which he constantly relives Dorn’s darkest hour, when he finds the mortally wounded Emperor on the bridge of Warmaster Horus’ Battle-Barge, the ''Vengeful Spirit. While it is not clear whether the Darkness caused Kersh’s recent failures or was triggered by them, the implication is that this is not a unique occurrence, although far from the inevitable Black Rage or Red Thirst of the Blood Angels. As punishment ‘the Scourge’ is placed in stasis, only to find himself begrudgingly awoken by his peers as their last chance to win the famous Feast of Blades, in a desperate bid to restore some of the Chapter’s rapidly declining morale. So it is under these circumstances that, with a heavy heart, the chapter decides to risk waking the Scourge, as a desperate bid to salvage some honor, after seven of their competitors have been defeated early in the tournament, and the other two are hopelessly outclassed by their upcoming match-ups. It takes a risky intervention to the catalepsean node in order to bring Kersh out of the Darkness, and into something resembling a functional state. Shortly after, the Scourge begins to see things – a revenant in midnight black power armour that shadows him at every step – and questions the effectiveness of the procedure. Still, despite all his concerns and protests, the reluctant Kersh is pressured into fighting in the Feast by the very brothers that despise him. His performance in the tournament causes the Excoriators to win the Feast of Blades for the first time, despite a debatable move that pits him in a three-way duel with the Black Templars and Imperial Fists champions. The victorious Kersh is scheduled to return to Eschara with the prized Dornsblade to show for their triumph. However, new orders from Chapter Master Ichabod change things for Zachariah, when he is given Captaincy of the recently devastated Fifth Company which is now at half-strength and lacking a captain, after a mission to retrieve the Stigmartyr turned out to be a carefully planned Alpha Legion ambush. Kersh is now in charge of the battered remains of a company that hates him, with only Apothecary Ezrachi, who brought him back from the brink of madness, as an ally. To make matters worse, he is constantly questioning his sanity – due to the constant haunting by a revenant Astartes – as well as his suitability for a command position. His first mission as Corpus-Captain is not the revenge against the Alpha Legion that every battle-brother longs for, but a distress call from the obscure Cemetery World of Certus-Minor, where a beacon to the Blood God - a pyramid of skulls - has just emerged from the lake. The world held no strategic importance whatsoever. However, ancient oaths between this world and the Imperium, as well as the fact that a tomb of a very important Ecclesiarch and High Lord of Terra was located there, contributed to Chapter Master Ichabod's decision of deploying the Fifth to such an ignominious goal. Not to mention 'the Scourge' had every intention of not failing his Chapter Master again. This strange phenomenon leads Kersh to postpone revenge even further, when word reaches him that a sizeable Khornate Crusade, known as the Cholerchaust, is making its way to the grave-world trailing a blood-red comet emerging from the Eye of Terror after ten millennia. Much to the Fifth Company’s dismay, he orders a defiant last stand against the invaders, and strands his forces on the world by sending their Apothecary and their crippled Strike Cruiser the Angelica Mortis to a nearby Forge World out of the comet’s path, taking their precious gene-seed with them for future generations of Excoriators. Kersh commands less than half of a full Company as well as an Imperial Guard regiment of Certusian Charnel Guard against the legion of Chaos traitors. Despite the odds, Kersh formulates a plan worthy of their Chapter's ancestors on Terra at the Imperial Palace during the Siege of Terra, making a bold last stand at Obsequa City. The weight of the Khornate assault far exceeds Kersh’s estimates, and things start looking grim, until the mysterious Legion of the Damned makes an unexpected appearance stopping the Cholercaust's Blood Crusade dead in its tracks. Kersh was the sole survivor of the slaughter on Certus-Minor. He later succeeded Ichabod as Chapter Master of the Excoriators. *'Shiloh Gideon (Corpus-Captain)' - Following the failed assassination attempt of Chapter Master Ichabod by the Alpha Legion and the loss of their sacred standard, the Stigmartyr, the Chapter's morale was at an all-time low. Corpus-Captain Gideon is ordered take their chosen champions and still compete in the centennial competition known as the 816th Feast of Blades, and is ordered by the Chapter Master to win the contest at any cost. Gideon ultimately makes the painful decision to release 'the Scourge' from his prison within a stasis sarcophagus to fight as the Chapter's sole remaining Champion. Against all odds, Kersh manages to win the final three-way duel against champions from the Imperial Fists and Black Templars Chapters, respectively. It is the first time the Excoriators have ever won the Feast of Blades in the Chapter's history. This greatly raises the morale of the battle-brothers within the Chapter. *'Thaddeus (Corpus-Captain)' - Former Captain of the Fifth Company, Thaddeus along with half his company, were ambushed and killed by a devious trap set by the Alpha Legion on the world of Veiglehaven. *'Tobiaz (Corpus-Captain)' - Former Company Commander of Zachariah Kersh when he was still a junior Battle-Brother. *'Bartimeus (Corpus-Commander)' – Senior commander of the 5th Company Strike Cruiser Angelica Mortis. With the approach of the large Khornate warhost known as the Cholercaust Blood Crusade towards the Cemetery World of Certus-Minor, Corpus-Captain Kersh orders Apothecary Ezarchi and Bartimeus to ensure the future of their Chapter, their precious gene-seed, safely away from the doomed planet to a nearby Mechanicus Forge World. Effectively trapping the doomed Fifth Company on the planet without orbital support or transportation off-world. *'Tiberias (Honoured First)' - The only surviving member of the Veteran First Company that was slaughtered by the Alpha Legion on the world of Ignis Prime. *'Santiarch Balshazar (Santiarch)' – Chaplain Balshazar managed those battle-brothers afflicted with the Darkness; a sort of spiritual treatment that those suffering the Darkness survive, or they do not. He had the afflicted interred within a decorative stasis casket, transported from the Chapter’s Holy Reclusiam on distant Eschara. The casket was beaten from dull adamantium, the box had the dimensions of a sarcophagus and the extravagant garniture to match. Its frontispiece featured a raised depiction of the Emperor-of-All; despite the casket standing upright, it represented him as prone, maimed and broken, following his confrontation with the beast Horus. Balshazar’s solution to the affliction of the Darkness; a darkness of his own. The most solitary of confinements, where no self-respecting Excoriator need look upon his weakness and invalidity. *'Dardarius (Chaplain)' *'Shadrath (Chaplain)' – The senior Chaplain attached to the devastated 5th Company. *'Melmoch (Epistolary)' – Senior Librarian attached to the devastated 5th Company. *'Absalom (Lord Apothecary)' – Absolom was a former Apothecary of the 2nd Company, but was instead promoted to Lord Apothecary and tasked with coordinating the search and formulation of an antidote for their envenomed Chapter Master Ichabod, whom was mortally wounded and poisoned in a failed assassination attempt by the Alpha Legion. *'Ezrachi (Apothecary)' – A Veteran Apothecary of the Chapter. The Apothecary’s right leg was a full bionic replacement and almost as old as Ezrachi himself. While robust and powerful, his bionic leg sighed with hydraulic insistence and lagged a millisecond behind its flesh-and-bone equivalent, giving the impression of a slight limp. He was responsible for the experimental procedure to shock Zachariah Kersh from his fugue state, known as the Darkness. He was later assigned to the Fifth Company as the new Apothecary of the decimated Company which is tasked to defend the Cemetery Word of Certus-Minor. With the approach of the ominous Keeler Comet heralding the inevitable doom of the Imperial world by the Khornate warhost known as the Cholercaust, Kersh takes desperate measures to ensure that their deaths are for naught, for the woefully outnumbered Exocoriators now faced an enemy infamous for its intolerance of survivors. The Corpus-Captain had the Apothecary begin extraction rites and the harvest of mature progenoid glands from all Excoriators with at least ten years’ service to the Chapter. As a Chapter of attrition fighters, they battled with the best but prepared for the worst. If they were faced with failure – then they should meet their doom knowing that their legacy lived on through the genetic heritage that they bequeathed. They would do this in the best interests of the Chapter and not themselves. Kersh did not ask this of Ezarchi, Dorn did – so that the Imperium’s future, as well as its present, might be secure. He then ordered Ezarchi to transport the collected gene-seed to the Angelica Mortis and oversee its safe storage and containment. The sacred seed would then travel on to the nearby Forge World of Aetna Phall, reachable through a series of short warp jumps. Though it would take months being in such close proximity to the Eye, the Adeptus Mechanicus would appreciate the importance of the valuable cargo and have the resources to make sure that it reached their Chapter homeworld, Eschara. He survived the disastrous defence of Certus-Minor when Corpus-Captain Kersh sent him away with their damaged strike cruiser to the Forge World, effectively stranding his company on the doomed planet to face their fate. *'Philemon (Apothecary)' - Former Apothecary assigned to the 5th Company who lost his life to the Alpha Legion’s second ambush along with Corpus-Captain Thaddeus. *'Dancred (Techmarine)' – Techmarine assigned to the Fifth Company. Dancred dies on Certus-Minor when they are attacked by the Khornate warhost known as the Cholercaust when his position is overrun in the initial attack. His body is laid out displaying his battle wounds as Chapter custom dictates with the other casualties in the aftermath. *'Hadrach (Techmarine)' *'Contego Micah (Company Champion)' - Brother Micah was the Fifth Company's freshly promoted champion. His predecessor had lost his life defending Corpus-Captain Thaddeus on the Kruger Ridge on the world of Veiglehaven. Micah was young for his position but a cool, impassive Excoriator. He was a gifted marksman and took the responsibilities of Company Champion seriously. Micah was just as unhappy about Kersh’s promotion to Corpus-Captain over Veteran Whip Skase, as everyone else was in the Fifth, but had studied his corpus-captain’s orders and their mission brief and had volunteered practical propositions regarding the company’s caution and security on Certus-Minor. Like many of his brothers, he was determined that the Excoriators would not fall to the predations of the Alpha Legion again – even if that meant keeping Zachariah Kersh alive. He is killed defending the Imperial Cemetary World from the large Khornate host known as the Cholercaust. *'Uriah Skase (Chief Whip)' – Skase is a veteran and senior Veteran Sergeant of the Fifth Company. He is described as being a veteran as the torn and mangled flesh of his face testifies. His visible wound sat upon his face like an ugly, snarling mask, seemingly only held together by the staples, stitches and decorative rings that run across it. Skase was a legend within the company. An assault squad whip, he had more combat experience than the rest of his squad added together. He had walked away from the most grievous injuries and heaviest fighting of the Fifth Company’s many victories and had been at the forefront of the Excoriators’ efforts to reclaim the Stigmartyr from the filth Alpha Legion at Veiglehaven. He was loved by his men, who viewed him as an indestructible force. Skase was so unrelenting on the battlefield that on the midnight plains of Menga-Dardra, a Black Legion Land Raider slammed into him with its dozer blade, ran him down and crushed him beneath its tracks, only for the mauled and buckled Skase to get back to his feet and rush back into the heart of the fighting. He had been Corpus-Captain Thaddeus’s right hand and, with Chaplain Shadrath, had held the decimated Fifth Company together in the wake of the atrocities at Vieglehaven. The surviving battle-brothers of the Fifth have been reorganised by Skase into three full squads. He had taken command of the first squad, Squad Cicatrix. Squad Cicatrix had the honour of driving back the Traitor Legionnaires and recovering the bodies. In doing this Chief Whip Skase and his men saved the harvested gene-seed of their fallen brothers, and the company was rightfully in their debt. Every Excoriator in the Fifth had fully expected Uriah Skase’s promotion to Corpus-Captain as a given. That was, until Chapter Master Ichabod’s intervention and the promotion of Zachariah Kersh instead. He is killed defending the Imperial Cemetary World of Certus Minor from the Khornate host known as the Cholercaust. *'Silas Keturah (Veteran Squad Whip' – Keturah was Veteran Squad Whip of the Tenth Company Scout Squads assigned to bolster the decimated Fifth Company. Out of all the Company whips, he was the only battle-brother not under Skase’s influence. Silas Keturah allowed for no other influence upon his neophytes but his own. He clearly did not relish using his young charges to bolster the depleted numbers under recently promoted Corpus-Captain Kersh’s command of the Fifth. He is killed defending the Imperial Cemetary World of Certus Minor from the Khornate host known as the Cholercaust. *'Ishmael (Squad Whip' – One of the remaining squad leaders of the decimated Fifth Company. The second squad, Squad Castigir, is led by Skase’s own right hand, Squad Whip Ishmael, an Excoriator crafted of much the same unforgiving brutality as the Chief Whip. He is killed defending the Imperial Cemetary World of Certus Minor from the Khornate host known as the Cholercaust. *'Joachim (Squad Whip)' – One of the remaining squad leaders of the decimated Fifth Company. Brother Joachim had been recently promoted to whip of the third squad, Squad Censura in the wake of the disaster on Vieglehaven. Joachim was younger and fresher of face, but his devotion to Skase and his ideals was painfully clear, assuming the form of a kind of hero worship. He is killed defending the Imperial Cemetary World of Certus Minor from the Khornate host known as the Cholercaust. *'Thanial (Squad Whip)' – Thanial served as Zachariah Kersh's former Squad Leader when he was still a Neophyte. *'Usachar (Squad Whip' – Squad leader and veteran battle-brother. Loses his match during the 816th Feast of Blades. *'Etham (Second Whip)' - An assistant squad leader assigned to the Fifth Company. He was killed defending the Imperial Cemetery World of Certus Minor from the Khornate host known as the Cholercaust. *'Scarioch (Second Whip)' - An assistant squad leader assigned to the Fifth Company. He was killed defending the Imperial Cemetery World of Certus Minor from the Khornate host known as the Cholercaust. *'Ashkelon (Battle-Brother)' - Ashkelon served in the Fifth Company, dying in the defense of Certus-Minor against the ravaging Khornate warhost, the Cholercaust. *'Basrael (Battle-Brother)' - Basrael served in the Fifth Company, dying in the defense of Certus-Minor against the ravaging Khornate, warhost, the Cholercaust. *'Boaz (Battle-Brother)' - Boaz served in the Fifth Company, dying in the defense of Certus-Minor against the ravaging Khornate, warhost, the Cholercaust. *'Dathan (Battle-Brother)' – A young battle-brother who was fast and had a way with a blade. He was severely wounded, losing his match during the 816th Feast of Blades. *'Ebenezar (Battle-Brother)' - Ebenezar served in the Fifth Company, dying in the defense of Certus-Minor against the ravaging Khornate, warhost, the Cholercaust. *'Erastus (Battle-Brother)' - A senior Astartes whom helped mentor Zachariah Kersh when he was a newly inducted, full Astartes. *'Jabez (Battle-Brother)' – Jabez was seriously wounded fighting an honorific duel during the 816th Feast of Blades. *'Kale (Battle-Brother)' - Kale was a member of Fifth Company, second squad - Squad Castigir. He died fighting against the Khornate warhost known as the Cholercaust on the Cemetary World of Certus-Minor. *'Levi (Battle-Brother)' - Levi served in the Fifth Company, second squad - Squad Castigir. He died fighting against the Khornate warhost known as the Cholercaust on the Cemetary World of Certus-Minor. *'Moliath (Battle-Brother)' - Moliath served in the Fifth Company, dying in the defense of Certus-Minor against the ravaging Khornate, warhost, the Cholercaust. *'Occam (Battle-Brother)' – During the 816th Feast of Blades he fought well, but not well enough and was killed. *'Nebuzar (Battle-Brother)' - A member of the Fifth Company, second squad - Squad Castigir, Nebuzar died defending the Imperial world of Certus-Minor against the predations of the Khornate warhost known as the Cholercaust. *'Novah (Battle-Brother)' - A member of the Fifth Company, Novah was Brother Toralech’s hasty replacement as company standard bearer when he was killed at the outset of hostilities on the Cemetery World of Certus-Minor, by a Bloodletter of Khorne. Like Fifth Company Champion, Brother Micah, he was young but quiet and uncertain. Micah assured Corpus-Captain Kersh that he was a first class warrior, both having originally fought in the same squad, and was one of the few brothers he could trust. He died fighting against the Khornate warhost known as the Cholercaust. *'Simeon (Battle-Brother)' - Simeon was a Battle-Brother assigned to the Fifth Company. He died in the defense of Certus-Minor against the ravaging Khornate warhost known as the Cholercaust. *'Torolech (Battle-Brother)' – Torolech was a Battle-Brother and Standard Bearer of the decimated Fifth Company. He was killed at the outset of hostilities on the Cemetery World of Certus-Minor, by a Bloodletter of Khorne. *'Tycharias (Battle-Brother)' - Tycharias served in the Fifth Company, dying in the defense of Certus-Minor against the ravaging Khornate, warhost, the Cholercaust. *'Iscarion (Scout Marine)' - A Scout and brother of the Tenth Company attached to the decimated Fifth Company to help augment their number. He was killed defending the Cemetery World of Certus Minor from the Khornate host known as the Cholercaust. *'Kush (Scout Marine)' - A Scout and brother of the Tenth Company attached to the decimated Fifth Company to help augment their number. He had been briefly seconded to Squad Cicatrix during training rites on board the Angelica Mortis. There he had been exposed to the full hatred the Excoriators First Squad felt for their new commanding officer. Kush, in turn, had brought these opinions to his brother neophytes, who had swiftly begun to revel in similar derision of the unfavoured Scourge, his loss of the Chapter Stigmartyr and his affliction with the Darkness. He was killed defending the Cemetery World of Certus Minor from the Khornate host known as the Cholercaust. *'Omar (Scout Marine)' - A Scout and brother of the Tenth Company attached to the decimated Fifth Company to help augment their number. Brother Omar was killed by blood frenzied Certusians on the Cemetery World of Certus Minor. They were affected by the malign influence of the strange blood-red harbinger of the Blood God, known as the Keeler Comet, which heralded the world's inevitable doom with the coming of the Khornate warhost known as the Cholercaust Blood Crusade. *'Taanach (Scout Marine)' - A Scout and brother of the Tenth Company attached to the decimated Fifth Company to help augment their number. He was killed defending the Cemetery World of Certus Minor from the Khornate host known as the Cholercaust. Non-Astartes Personnel *'Old Enoch' – Kersh’s human seneschal, he was the caretaker of the ceremonial ‘lash’ and overseer of his master’s devotional mortification. Aside from basic servitude, Enoch and his two children were tasked, above all else, to excoriate the flash of their master and purify him of weakness so that he might achieve endorphic communion with the Primarch. He died fighting alongside his Excoriator masters on the world of Certus-Minor fighting the Khornate warhost known as the Cholercaust. *'Oren' - Enoch’s son, is barrel-chested and possess the thick arms of a scud-wrestler. It is Oren’s solemn function to administer ‘the purge’ with all the devotion of which he was capable. His father supervised the ritual, his eyes burning in disappointment that his own son had not been honoured with tissue compatibility for a life beyond mere humanity. He died fighting alongside his Excoriator masters on the world of Certus-Minor fighting the Khornate warhost known as the Cholercaust. *'Bethesda' – Enoch’s elfin waif of a girl who was both gaunt and grim. Bethesda was Kersh’s absterge. She was charged with the routine cleansing and dressing of the Astartes’ ceremonial wounds. She died fighting alongside her Excoriator masters on the world of Certus-Minor fighting the Khornate warhost known as the Cholercaust. Chapter Fleet *''Angelica Mortis'' (Strike Cruiser) *''Cerberus'' (Battle Barge) *''Scarifica'' (Frigate) Chapter Appearance Chapter Colours The Excoriators' Power Armour is painted a cream colour with silver Aquila and trim. Each gouge and las-burn in their Power Armour has the dates and locations where these scars of battle were earned meticulously inscribed into the battle-plate in High Gothic script. The battle-plate of the Excoriators' is often covered in such markings. Chapter Badge The Chapter's badge is taken from their lost Chapter standard, the Stigmartyr. This adopted emblem is a scarlet gauntleted fist shot through with lightning bolts that protrude both in front and behind the fist like wicked spikes. Sources *''Codex: Eye of Terror'' (3rd Edition) *''Legion of the Dammed'' (Novel) by Rob Sanders Category:E Category:Space Marine Chapters Category:Space Marines